Around 635 to 720 million years ago, during Earth’s most severe glacial period, the Earth was twice almost completely covered by ice, according to current hypotheses. The question of how life on Earth survived these ‘Snowball Earth’ glaciations, lasting up to about 50 million years, has occupied the most eminent scientists for many decades. An international team, led by Dutch and German researchers of the MARUM – Center for Marine Environmetal Sciences at the University of Bremen and the Max Planck Society, now found the first detailed glimpse of life after the ‘Snowball' in the form of newly discovered ancient molecules, buried in old rocks. Their results were now published in Nature Communications.